


Nexus

by Shade_Penn1



Category: Devil May Cry, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Drama, Dubious Consent, F/M, Friendship/Love, Half-Human, Love Triangle, Love/Hate, M/M, Multi, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-11-20
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-10-26 08:38:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/280965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shade_Penn1/pseuds/Shade_Penn1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starts off in "Speed Metal." Even the smallest of connections can run deep. And what had started out as a mistake starts to become something Jack had never thought possible.<br/>A/J/KO</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This starts off about half-way through the TF:Prime Episode "Speed Metal." And I also tweeked Jack's involvement to fit into the story plot.

A/N: This starts off about half-way through the TF:Prime Episode "Speed Metal." And I also tweeked Jack's involvement to fit into the story plot.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack Darby had always figured he was normal. He had a normal job that he hated; a cool-if not over worrying-mom, and an amazing alien robot guardian.

...Okay, maybe his life wasn't so normal. Though despite that, at least he was normal, right?

Wrong. He never thought much of if, but he was more...resilient than most-if not everyone he knew. Which wasn't many people sadly.

His cuts would heal faster than normal, maybe a few hours at best. And his most suspicious experience was when he was 7 and had fallen out of a tree with only a sprained wrist that healed in three days.

He did of course ask his mother, June, but she would just smile that sad smile and said he got it from 'him.'

At 13 he realized that the 'him' his mother made references to was his father. A father he never knew nor remembered. When Arcee had asked why he didn't have a father, he couldn't give a truthful answer becuse he didn't know the answer himself. "I don't know," was the best he could come up with.

Then the incident with the energon harvester happened and when he had come home late, his mother had stalked over to him, looking angry and scared at the same time. She must have been near hysterical because she had began to ask if he had seen or been attacked by any strange-looking creatures.

Since Jack couldn't say anything about the 'Bots or 'Cons, he had merely replied with, "I haven't seen any creatures that you're talking about." June though looked visibly relieved at this answer.

Maybe it had been the stress of the experience he had, but what he said next made June freeze completely. "I wanna know what you're keeping from me."

June opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Jack's eyes made her pause and consider he options. "Alright, I'll tell you."

And she did.

To say that Jack had been shocked would be like saying the Arctic was just a little cold or that scraplets ate just a little metal; a gross understatement.

Not only did he find out what his father was, but what he was. And what he was, was apparently only partly human.

When his mother had finished telling him everything, he didn't know what to feel.

Happy that his father was technically still alive. Angry that the guy had left them for power. Relieved that his mother had said he had cared about them. Or sad because he'd never get to know the guy because his father apparently couldn't get back on his own.

Jack suddenly wished as he was jerked around in Bumblebee's driver seat and being chased by a red 'Con that he had angst-ed in a normal destructive teenage way instead of accepting to race.

Jack held onto the seat and let out a small sigh of relief as 'Bee hid under a bridge. "I think we lost him 'Bee." he said quietly as saw Vince's car up ahead. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!"

"Darby!" Vince said angrily as he approached them while making fists.

"You have to get outta here, you win. Congratulations, now go." Jack said and made a shooing motion with his hand.

Vince slammed his hands down on Bumblebee's hood. "Now starter back up, loser, we're finishing this race. You don't wanna take it to the finish, fine, then we got something to settle here, right here, right now-ooh!" he yelled as he was grabbed by a giant metal hand.

Jack got out of Bumblebee's seat and raced up the side of the bridge to see the 'Con having already taken off. 'Not good.' he thought as a strange sense of guilt began to wash through him, along with fear. He looked back as 'Bee came driving up the side. "'Bee, he's getting away!" There was a series of beeps.

"I can't understand you!" Jack yelled frustated. "Look, I'm not Raf. Can't you just honk once for bad news and twice for good news?" He heard honking and saw Arcee, and Bulkhead driving up and transformed along with 'Bee.

Arcee put her hands on her hips and stared down at Jack. "Jack, we need to have little chat."

Jack waved one arm half-heartedly as he looked away. "Later, Arcee. Vince got snatched by that slick sports car 'Con."

"What would Knock Out want with a random human?" Arcee questioned.

"He probably mistoke Vince for Bumblebee's human friend." Jack pointed at himself. "I'm not even Bumblebee's human friend. It doesn't matter why he took him, Vince is in trouble!"

"Oh well, tough break for Vince." Bulkhead said indifferently.

Jack stared up in shock. "Bulkhead!"

"What? I hear the guy's a jerk." Bulkhead said.

"No arguement there." Jack agreed. "But the guy is also innocent. Vince doesn't deserve to get crushed by 'Cons."

Arcee stared at him for a moment before transforming back to vehicle -mode. "Hop on." she said flashing her head lights.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three Autobots and one 'human' were driving down the town street and stopped at a corner only to see Knock Out go driving past them. Jack stared after him and turned in that direction, the two other 'Bots following.

Arcee pulled back a bit. "On your guard boys, could be a trap."

"Remember, no shooting." Jack reminded.

Arcee stopped as Bulkhead and Bumblebee went past her. "Speaking of safety, he's where you get off." she said and drove after her comrades as soon as Jack got off.

Jack took his helmet off and stared after her, the irratic feeling getting worse. He looked down at the ground and unnoticed to him, the rim of his iris' had turned red. His ears suddenly picked up an engine and metal clanging metal. He didn't know what possessed him to do it, but his feet were moving and he jumped on the 'Con cars hood, making Arcee jerk back from her place on the roof.

"Jack?" she yelled in disbelief.

Jack tried to smile, but had no reply without admitting 'my feet moved on their own.' And that sounded really crazy. He dug his nails into the hood with surprising force as Knock Out suddenly turned a corner and Arcee was thrown off. Jack looked back to see she had transformed and was following after them.

Jack then turned his attention to the unconcious redhead strapped in the passenger seat. He began to bang his fist against the windshield to try and break it, but all it got him was the hood lifting up, causing him to be sent rolling up the windshield and onto the roof.

"Oof!" he grunted as he fell through the sunroof and into the driver's seat. 'I'll take what I can get.' he thought and tried to pull the straps off Vince.

"I don't think so, flesh bag."

Jack felt the straps to the driver's seat wrap around him and pull him back against the seat, his arms pinned to his sides. He pulled his feet up and began kicking the steering wheel in an effort to get Knock Out to let go of him. "Let me go!" he growled, his iris's almost completely red.

"You want out, flesh bag? Fine." Knock Out hissed as he opened his driver side door and the straps around Jack threw the teen out with enough force for the buckle to leave a deep slash across his chest and for a piece of it to break off.

Jack let out a grunt of pain as he stopped rolling on down the road and felt his chest, cringing as he fingers came back bloody. "I hope this congeals quickly." he whispered. He winced from mild discomfort at the metal stuck inside his chest, but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Jack!" Such as Arcee's wrath. Jack staggered to his feet as the femme transformed into 'Bot-mode. "Are you insane? What were you thinking?-" she stopped as she saw the large, and most likely deep, gash along the teen's chest. "Jack..." she said in a softer tone. "Are you...?"

Jack waved it off. "I'm okay, it's not that deep." It felt wrong lying to Arcee, but he didn't want her to think he couldn't take are of himself.

Or that he was suicidal for the stunt he pulled by jumping on Knock Out.

Jack looked up as Optimus, who had the still unconcious Vince, walked over as 'Bee and Bulkhead arrived in vehicle-mode. He tried to apply pressure to his wound to slow down the bleeding while trying not to wince and hiss as he felt the metal lodged in his flesh. "Optimus, this was all my fault."

The Prime gave Jack a look, more specifically at the blood staining his shirt. "We must get this boy to safety immediately." he said. "Explanations can come later. From all of you."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uh, what happened?"

Jack barely looked away from the road so the redhead couldn't see the blood on his shirt as he answered. "Some guys jumped you under the bridge, they tossed you into their trunk-some kind of initiation."

"Really?" Vince asked blankly.

Jack looked up for a moment. "Uh yeah. I found you knocked out by the side of the road." he 'stopped' the car at the bridge where Vince's car was below and the redhead got out. "Look. I gotta be honest, after what I saw tonight, I'm thinking racing just isn't my thing."

Vince leaned down to peer into the car. "I hear ya Darby. Hard to win a race driving a pedal car!"

The gas pedal went down on its own and gassered away, leaving Vince coughing up fumes.

"Nice one, 'Bee." Jack chuckled lightly.

His mother probably wouldn't be too happy about his injury and being out so late. Though first he had to give his explanation to Optimus.

He really couldn't tell which one he dreaded more.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jacl clutched again at his chest once more before he took off his helmet and closed the garage door.

"Jack..." June's voice floated through the air and made the teen freeze.

The teen turned his head to see his mother standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face. "Hey mom." he paused. "Do we have any tweezers in the first aid kit?"

June's eyes narrowed. "Why?" Jack fully turned around to face her and her hand flew to her mouth as she saw the blood. "Jack, were you attac-"

"Just had a pretty nasty accident." Jack said hastily. "And I'm pretty sure there's something stuck in here." he said quietly.

June nodded and led her son to the kitchen. She got the first aid kit out as Jack disgarded his shirt. It was pretty much useless now anyway. June cleaned around the wound and looked directly into her son's eyes. His completely red eyes. She knew his hair would have been white if not for the reason he had yet to go into full trigger.

He had to die first, and he knew this too. She had told him so in her explanation the previous night.

"Jack, you already have red eyes, you need to finish the transformation." she said quietly. "I can give you enough sleeping pills so it'll be painless and I can finish working on the wound."

Jack was silent. He really didn't wanna die, but hopefully this would be the only time he did die. At least for a very long time.

"I'll take the pills."

It didn't take long for Jack to die and for June to get the metal thing lodged in his chest out. It turned out to be a rather large piece of metal that had June wincing since it was covered in her son's blood.

No sooner when the metal was out did Jack's transfomation happen. His hair turned snow white, but his trigger form left June completely baffled and utterly amazed.

A strange light emitted from the wound and almost instantly was his entire body(sans his face and hair) covered in gleaming, white metallic armour. A mouth guard covered the bottom half of his face to complete the look.

To be truthful, she had expected something insect-like, not 'sci-fi-ish.' She glanced down at the blood covered metal she had pulled out of the teen. Could the fact that he had been in very intimate contact with a metallic substance change the trigger form for him? It was also a miracle he had only looked mildly uncomfortable instead instead of screaming in pain from the metal.

When Jack had finally 'came back to life' as it were, he opened his normal blue eyes and saw his mother's stupified expression.

"So, did my trigger form look cool?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Jack, do you have time for that ride?"

Jack stopped just short of Arcee and turned to face Sierra, his helmet under his arm. His face lit up briefly before his expression fell. "I'm sorry Sierra. I can't right now."

Sierra looked mildly disappointed. "No problem." she turned away. "I guess I'll just see you around."

Arcee started up and drove up to Jack. "Hop on."

Jack stared down at her in surprise. "Whoa, really?"

"Just this once." Arcee said sternly.

Jack's face lit up again, though his ride with Sierra, he couldn't help but notice that there was something very wrong with this picture.

He didn't feel any elation like he thought he would at finally catching his crushes attention. Instead he just felt empty.


	2. Chapter 2

Was it wrong for him to feel relieved and happy that the ride with Sierra was a short one? He couldn't even blush at the double entendre of what he had just thought.

Was it also wrong to feel more at home with aliens than with other people?

No, his mother often told him that he'd gotten that trait from his father, who was the complete opposite of his brother.

And wasn't it strange to know that he apparently had an uncle? Still, it made Jack question just how much of an opposite his father was to his apparent uncle.

"Jack?"

Heh, he'd almost honestly forgotten about his guardian. "Yeah, Arcee?"

"You're very quiet. Are you still in any pain?" Arcee asked in concern.

Almost subconsciously, Jack placed a hand on his chest. "Nah. I'm alright." Though once he'd seen how big that metal shard had been, he'd been morbidly surprised that all he had felt was mild discomfort instead of searing pain. "I'm, uh, going inside now." he mumbled as he went into the house and remembered how his mother said how much he looked like his father with white hair.

It made him wonder what the guy exactly looked like.

Dimly aware of his surroundings, he found himself in front of a cabinet in the living room and pulled the bottom book out. Its clean cover and peculiar placement spoke of it being looked through often, but that no one else was supposed to see it.

Jack was surprised to find that his breath had become laboured and his hands shook as he held the book. 'Get a grip Jack,' he told himself, 'this is just a photo album. It's not gonna explode if I open it.'

But that was just it. He was afraid to open it. To see a picture of the guy and build up a false image of his father, and if he ever did meet the guy and he wasn't what he expected...he would be severely disappointed. Jack took a steadying breath and opened the book. The first picture he saw was of his mother, who looked younger, and a young man who was pale in complexion, with icy blue eyes that matched Jack's own, and slicked back white hair.

Jack came to the conclusion that this was his father.

As he looked through the rest of the pictures, he soon found a picture of a baby-fied version of him. If he had to guess from the white ceilings and his tired-looking mother, this photo was more than likely taken after he was born.

...Wait. He frowned thoughtfully as he stared at the picture.

What names were on his birth certificate? Jack knew his father's name, but June steadfastly refused to mention a surname. Even when she had been explaining who his uncle and grandfather were. Hell, she only slipped once by calling his uncle 'Dante.'

And it was too much of a coincidence for Jack to assume that specific name was also his middle name by chance.

Though he'd have to remember to search for that certificate sometime in the near future.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, this is just plain weird." Jack muttered as he walked through the dim streets of Jasper, Nevada, which was now the eerie reminiscent of a ghost town.

How did he get here? He had just gone to sleep only thirty minutes ago! What was this place?

"Ah, good questions." A voice that sounded a slightly muffled and tinny version of his said in appraisal.

Jack looked over in the voice's direction and found himself gaping. Coolly leaning against a lamp post was a teenager that looked just like him, only a lot more robotic-looking. The stranger was covered in gleaming white metal armour and wearing a mouth guard, his tanned face framed by white hair, and two deep red eyes stared back at him.

"Who are you?" Jack blurted out.

The stranger looked at him in amusement. "I'm you."

Jack stared in disbelief. "How can you be-" he paused and his eyes widened. "Wait, are you my inner demon?"

Though it was impossible for Jack to tell, he was pretty sure the armoured figure was smirking. "That's right. Though since technically I don't have my own form, I took on that of our trigger." he gestured to his armour covered body.

"Wow, I look cool like that." Jack said with surprise. "Now, are you going to answer my questions?"

The 'demon' nodded. "You are asleep, so you can come here during unconsciousness-whether you want to or not."

"Yes, but where exactly is 'here?'" Jack persisted.

"Our soul's plane." His inner demon said simply.

"So this is my-" The demon shook his head.

"Not 'my,' 'our.'" he replied. "I don't necessary count as an individual being as I am merely a manifestation of you in this form to speak with you more...'face-to-face' as you could say. The 'our' I'm talking about is him." he pointed in a seemingly random direction, but Jack could just make out a dark humanoid shape in the distance.

Though it was too dark over there to see any definite detail.

"Well, why are we here?" Jack asked as his inner demon walked over to him.

The demon placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and began to glow. "We're connected to him of course." he answered cryptically before he disappeared.

Jack looked down at himself and found that he was now in trigger form. 'Okay, this is cool.' he thought looking at the armour.

The distant figure, obviously attracted by the glow, moved close and Jack could finally see their details, and knew that despite the humanoid shape, they were definitely not human.

Jack stared in startled shock at the human-sized red 'Con. "Oh hell, not you."

Knock Out began circling Jack. "You're Cybertronian-looking in appearance, but you also resemble a human. So what are you?" he mused.

Jack's red eyes glared balefully at the Decepticon. "That's really none of your business." he hissed and then paused. "Do you even know who I am?"

"Your vocal patterns match the one Arcee called 'Jack.'" Knock Out smirked haughtily. "And here I thought I killed you. I suppose from your current appearance that you're not such a fragile fleshy."

Jack growled. "I know you're behind this connection somehow!" he didn't know how exactly, but something was telling him that this mess was all the 'Con's fault.

"Connection?" Knock Out repeated with a frown, obviously not liking what that meant. "Then why don't I just take you out to break it!" his frown went even deeper when he tried to use his energon prod on Jack and it wouldn't work.

Jack grinned behind his mouth guard as he figured out the reason he couldn't use his weapon. "We're connected in some way you dumb aft! I highly doubt you'd be able to hurt me with a weapon in here." he said mockingly.

Knock Out stared at the prod before discarding it and crouched. "Then why don't I just do this the old-fashioned way?" he questioned before lunging at Jack.

Jack barely managed to dodge as he got into his own crouch. "Oh, it's on now, Red!"

The teen didn't know what had brought on this sudden anger. Maybe it was the rage he felt toward Knock Out for causing this horrible situation. Or the built up stress that had no proper outlet until now, but there was one thing he did know as he fought.

It felt so good to finally vent.

Despite the numerous hits Jack was getting and dishing out, he couldn't stop grinning. "This is so much fun."

Clearly this brief lapse in sanity was the result of still trying to get used to everything happening to him at once. Hopefully it was temporary.

Hopefully...

Knock Out nearly stumbled at the exclamation. "Fun?" He for one did not find anything fun about getting all dented up.

Jack used this distraction to his advantage and tackled him, knocking them both to the ground. "Yeah, fun. Like kicking your aft is fun, Red." He had yet to actually register that he wasn't using human the human term for 'ass' and switching it out for 'aft.'

Suddenly though, when Jack's heart came directly over Knock Out's spark, there was a strange stream of light tendrils connecting between them and they both froze. They were both then experiencing specific parts of the previous night. Knock Out experienced the cold weight of death as Jack had died, and Jack was experiencing the 'cosmetic punishment' Starscream had given Knock Out.

Just as sudden as it happened, it ended and the streams disappeared, but both organic and 'Con hadn't moved an inch.

"What," Jack finally gasped out and leapt off Knock Out like the 'Con had burned him, "did you do?"

"What did I do?" Knock Out repeated. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Jack hissed. He frowned to himself when he saw the dents repairing themselves on both his and Knock Out's armour. "That's weird, only I should be healing."

"What was that?" Knock Out asked distractedly.

"Nothing!" Jack snapped with renewed hostility.

They returned to glaring at each until the lamp post light flickered out and the apparent 'sun' began to rise. Jack assumed it was morning in real time too and looked over at the 'Con distastefully.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I'm ignoring this connection we supposedly have." he spat.

Knock Out crossed his arms and looked over at Jack with equal disdain. "Oh, I fully intend on ignoring this-and if I end up here again, you as well." he added haughtily.

Jack nodded curtly. "Fine with me, Red."

As the light of the 'sun' cascaded over the soul plane, both 'Con and organic had vanished; both secretly hoping they never had to see each other again.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack blearily opened his blue eyes as the blinding rays of sunlight shone through his window and onto his face. He got up and trekked down the hall to the bathroom.

He abruptly stopped at the mirror and stared at his reflection with disbelief. He'd gone to sleep last night wearing a bandage around his chest so he never noticed it, but he had to rub his eyes to make sure he was fully awake and actually seeing this.

Where the gash had been was now covered with metal.

He hesitantly touched it, but it didn't hurt or make him cringe. It was strangely warm and smooth, the white metal sticking out against his tan skin like a sore thumb.

He'd bet anything that this is where the metal that made up his trigger would be coming from.

Still, it was the coolest-looking, as well as the weirdest, scar he'd ever seen-let alone gotten.

He frowned slowly when the memory of how he got it came back to mind and he suddenly felt the need to shower. Twice.

30 minutes later, he entered the garage, all thoughts of a certain Decepticon slipping from his thoughts as soon as he saw his guardian.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Optimus, I believe we have a situation." Ratchet said looking at the monitor screen.

"What is it, Ratchet?" The Autobot asked walking over to the medic.

"The sensors are picking up a Decepticon signal right over Arcee's!" Ratchet replied.

"Is it possible to identify this signal?" Optimus asked in concern.

"Unfortunately I can't get a clear reading because of some kind of strange interference. But I can only be sure it's Decepticon in origin." Ratchet said.

"I see. I shall inform Arcee of this and tell her to be on guard and shall comm. Bulkhead and Bumblebee to provide back up." Optimus said gravely. "Is there anything informative about this signal?"

"Just one; it just, well, appeared. Very suddenly I might add."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arcee was bored. She'd never admit that though; it was just that she was forced to sit still for a longer period of time than she would have liked as Jack worked at his job at K.O Burger.

Interestingly enough, he shuddered almost minutely when he saw the sign and hissed "Red" under his breath.

She had merely assumed this was some troubling co-worker he was referring to such hostility to.

:Optimus to Arcee. Come in, Arcee.:

:Arcee here, sir.:

:Ratchet has detected a Decepticon signal in your immediate vicinity. I have dispatched Bumblebee and Bulkhead to provide backup.: Optimus said.

:I don't need back up to take care of one 'Con though.: Arcee replied.

:I am taking precautions with this one because of the unusual nature of the signal. Be on your guard, Optimus out.:

Arcee subtly moved her rear-view mirrors. How could a 'Con be in the area without her noticing or it trying to slag her?

Either this was a new 'Con or-yeah, it was definitely a newbie.

The door to the fast-food establishment opened and Jack came out, his expression stormy. "I'm on break." he said answering the unasked question, his face softening just slightly when he looked at her.

"What's the matter? You seem...angry." Arcee observed.

Jacks' back straightened. "It's nothing." he said unconvincingly. He slowly blinked as he saw Bulkhead and Bumblebee go driving by. "Is there anything going on that I should know?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about." Arcee replied. If a 'Con did show up she wanted to make sure Jack actually stayed put this time.

She didn't want a repeat of what had happened the last time he didn't listen.

Speaking of which...

"How's your wound healing?"

If possible, Jack's eyes grew even darker. "It's...getting better."

Though from the way he paused, it sounded more like he was trying to hide something from her.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Jack had seen the sign, he unwittingly thought of Red (he absolutely refused to call him by his name). His mood only worsened when the other teens he knew from school went out of their way to make his job more difficult.

Then again, he was the 'loser' after all to them.

At least with Red they had come to some sort of grudging agreement in this most undesirable situation that he never wanted to be in. Still, it was a fair condition. They leave each other alone and pretend they weren't connected.

Though Jack remained firm that this was all Red's fault.

Whoa. Wait. Did Jack really think being connected to a Decepticon was better than being harassed at work?

No, he told himself, it's just the thought of leaving him alone that's better.

When break finally came for him, he was ready to punch someone. Seeing Arcee made him calm down enough to speak. "I'm on break."

"What's the matter? You seem...angry." Jack really wished the tone in her voice was concern.

Jack straightened up. "It's nothing." There was no way he was saying anything about Red, his secret, or his 'scar.' Distractingly, he noticed both Bulkhead and Bumblebee driving by and blinked owlishly. "Is there anything I should know?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about." Arcee replied. "How's your wound healing?" she asked abruptly.

Jack knew his eyes got darker and it took everything he had not to reach toward his chest. He couldn't say anything; he reminded himself...it just wouldn't be fair. "It's...getting better."

But even to his own ears it sounded like a bad lie.

So trying to bring back even a small sliver of normalcy, Jack reached into his jean pocket and took out his iPod and pressed 'play.'

He spent the rest of his break listening to the sound of his music.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is...incredibly impossible." Knock Out muttered as he was literally examining his armour under a microscope.

All the hideously deep scratches he had gotten and had yet to spend hours getting rid of were completely gone! He looked just like he did before the whole racing business had happened. He had then remembered what the organic said-it was cemented in his processor upon seeing the clearly not human attributes, that the organic wasn't human either.

"That's weird, only I should be healing."

If accelerated healing had been the organic's ability, then how had he...?

Which led him to his current experiment.

He had just painfully (for him anyway) scratched his newly healed arm and watched in astonishment as it slowly healed itself.

It was like whatever caused the organic to live through the slash he left on his chest and being dumped on the road to die had allowed Knock Out to heal quickly.

This gave him a strong suspicion as to what this 'connection' was.

He suddenly heard a whispering voice in his processor that sounded just like the organic he was 'connected' too.

It was low, but he could just make out the words.

"I believe that you'll always be here,  
'Cause you promised a life with no fear,  
Please don't break my ideals,  
And say what was fake was always real..."

The Decepticon medic nearly laughed when he realized his- no, not his- the organic was singing. Pretty good too, he'd admit, but this only strengthened his suspicion.

'Though I can't help but wonder what he got from me.'

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Jack asked his brow knitted together with concern as Arcee gave off an almost agitated air as they arrived at the base.

"Seriously?" Arcee repeated and 'sighed.' "Alright. I didn't want you to freak out earlier, but Ratchet had picked up a 'Con signal that had been in our immediate vicinity."

Jack's eyes widened. "So that's why 'Bee and Bulkhead were there?" Arcee nodded. "Did they catch whoever it was?"

"No, they signal disappeared just before we left, so I assume that they took off." Arcee replied.

"Jack!" A female voice yelled.

Jack looked over as Miko came jogging over. "Yeah?"

"Hello? Band practice!" Miko said annoyed.

Jack inwardly groaned. "You're really serious about that?"

"Yes!" Miko looked really annoyed now and dragged Jack off to the far edge of the hangar to where Raf was sitting with his laptop, and Jack saw the blue femme shake her head in amusement and left the room. "So Raf, you find any songs we can play?" she asked the 12 year old.

"All of them involve singing." Raf replied.

Miko slumped. "Great, where are we gonna find a singer?"

"Uh, I can sing." Jack said, his cheeks tinting red. It was a secret only because he thought people would laugh and say he sucked at it.

Miko looked at him, her eyes bright. "Really? That's great! Here, take a look at these videos."

"Whoa!" Jack nearly lost his balance as Miko pulled him over to look at the screen. Jack wondered not for the first time if Miko manhandled everyone.

Shaking his arm free, he scrolled down the screen and came to a song called 'Smile.' He was sure a song with a title like that was a happy song, right?

As an electric guitar solo started up, and a stage light appeared to show a pretty young woman with short dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and two locks framing her face. She was wearing a bright yellow scarf around her neck, an orange skirt, a blue shirt with cut-off shoulders, and long white boots.

All-in-all, she looked the part of a female retro pop star.

When Jack heard the voice, he paled as he connected the dots.

"Smile though your heart is aching  
Smile even though it's breaking  
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by  
If you smile through your fear and sorrow  
Smile and maybe tomorrow  
You'll see the sun come shining through for you..."

This...this is...

"Light up your face with gladness  
Hide every trace of sadness  
Although a tear may be ever so near  
That's the time you must keep on trying  
Smile, what's the use of crying?   
You'll find that life is still worthwhile  
If you just smile..."

"My mom." Jack whispered to himself, but Miko and Raf both heard him.

"Dude, that's your mom?" Miko asked in disbelief. "Wow, before your mom was a mom, she was cool."

"I believe from the date of the video that she already was a mom."

"That's the time you must keep on trying  
Smile, what's the use of crying?   
You'll find that life is still worthwhile  
If you just smile."

"Jack, you better be a good singer, 'cause if you suck compared to this, I'll never let you live it down." Miko said with a mischievous smile that promised to go through with the threat.

Jack felt his irritation build as she listed off all the things she would do if he failed. Like sign him up for the school talent show or worse...actually tell people he sucked at it. He didn't mean for it to be so loud, or so vicious, but he just wanted her to stop talking. "Shut the frag up!"

Miko's expression was like a deer caught in the headlights, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Did you just tell me to shut up?" she accused.

"Did you just speak Cybertronian?" Raf asked adjusting his glasses, his eyes also wide with disbelief.

"I...I was just-still am really angry right now." Jack mumbled, though his irritation had yet to disappear. He heard thunderous footsteps and all the Autobots came running in, guns blazing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Miko had dragged Jack off, Arcee went to the control room to give her report of the 'stake out' as it were. "There was no 'Con. Are you sure you picked up a Decepticon signal?" she asked the medic.

"Of course I'm sure!" Ratchet replied looking affronted. "But I was unable to identify it due to interference from something else."

"Interference?" Arcee repeated frowning and the computer suddenly started beeping.

Ratchet looked over it and almost let out what could be a choked gasp. "This can't be! The signal from before is back and it's in the base!"

"But where?" Bumblebee beeped.

"Shut the frag up!" An angry voice screamed.

"Well, that answers that question." Bulkhead said rather calmly.

A cold feeling came over Arcee's spark. "Wait, isn't that the direction that kids are in?"

In less than a klik, every one of the 'Bots were racing to the hangar; Arcee had the front as the memory of Jack clutching his bleeding chest came up in her processor. He had no idea how terrifying it had been for her to think of losing someone else.

'That's not going to happen. Not if I can help it.' she thought.

When they all charged into the hangar, they were met with three unharmed humans, two wide-eyed, and the third looking irritated.

"Where's the 'Con?" Arcee asked, optics shifting around.

"What 'Con?" Jack muttered. "We haven't seen anyone in here."

"Then why do you two look so stunned?" Bumblebee beeped looking at Raf.

"I told Miko to shut up." Jack answered instead, surprising everyone by doing this.

"About time someone did." Ratchet grumbled, earning a disapproving look from Optimus.

"Wait, you understood what Bumblebee was saying?" Arcee asked and Jack nodded, looking a little confused. "Were you also the one who swore?" she asked a bit more suspiciously.

Jack's eyes lit with recognition, like he'd done something wrong, and drew back, his face growing pale. "Yeah, I guess I might have." he said looking very guilty of something. "I don't even know where I heard the word 'frag' from."

All the 'Bots looked at Ratchet. "What?" he asked defensively. "I don't swear in front of younglings." he looked down at his scanner. "And the signals gone again."

"How would it even be possible for a 'Con to get in here? They don't even know where this base is!" Bulkhead stated.

"Maybe they can go through walls, or turn invisible, or..." Miko started to ramble.

"Miko..." Jack growled warningly, a slowly returning look of annoyance coming over his face.

Ratchet's scanner beeped again and this made him look between the sensor and Jack with some disbelief. He suddenly knelt down and got very close to Jack to take scans of him.

"Personal space!" Jack growled shifting back with a scowl.

Ratchet ignored him and stared at the readings he got. "This is impossible!"

"What is it, Ratchet?" Optimus asked.

"My scans of Jack match the Decepticon signal that keeps coming up, strange interference and all." Ratchet replied.

"What does this mean? Does Jack have some sort of tracer on him?" Arcee asked. "'Cause I'm sure I would have notice it."

"To be blunt," Ratchet started and decided to just get it over with, "the scans show that Jack is a Decepticon."


	4. Chapter 4

Everyone was floored by the revelation of Jack 'being' a Decepticon. This concept was completely absurd though and Arcee wasn't so restrained from voicing thing fact.

"Ratchet, Jack's not a Decepticon! This has to be a mistake." she said.

"There's no mistake, my scanners are never wrong." Ratchet replied evenly. "His optics sharpened as he looked at Jacks. "do you know what could have caused this?"

If possible, Jack got paler. "N-no. I don't know."

"Keep in mind boy that I have a built in lie detector." Ratchet replied coolly.

Jack gulped and gave the other two humans a furtive glance. "Uh, it was when I tried to save Vince myself. Re-Knock Out had trapped me in the driver seat, so I began kicking the steering wheel so he'd let me go. He tossed me out, but not before leaving that gash across my chest. Though what I forgot to mention was that a piece of the buckle broke off and got loddged in the wound." his voice got very quiet as he finsihed his explanation.

"You mean you spent almost an hour with a metal shard loddged so close to your heart? You could have died!" Arcee exclaimed.

"But I didn't!" Jack retorted hastily and winced when Ratchet looked at him suspiciously. "I really don't wanna talk about it anymore." he said with another glance at Miko and Raf.

Clearly Jack didn't want to say anything with his friends there, so Optimus intervened.

"I believe it's time our young friends should be returning home." he said.

Jack sent Prime the most grateful look he'd ever given anyone and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

Once Miko and Raf left with their guardians, Ratchet rounded on Jack, looking like he'd found a particularly interesting specimen. "Now talk, boy."

"I can't tell you everything-even I don't understand how it could've happened, but somehow, whatever did happen connected me with him." Jack said somewhat flushed. It may have been only three 'Bots present, but that was still one-to-many for him. "Last night, when I went to sleep, I ended up in a strange place that looked like a much more...desolate-version of the town, and Re-Knock Out was there too. He wasn't so happy about this connection thing either."

Jack risked a glance up. Arcee was looking at him in open concern, Ratchet looked incredulous, and Optimus looked pensive. "See, this is why I didn't want to say anything; you think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"Jack, in this place you were in, did anything happen?" Optimus asked.

Jack looked away and scratched his head. "Actually, R-Knock Out and I tried to kill each, though it didn't work. When I managed to tackle R-Knock Out the ground...something happened. I don't know how, but I felt and saw what happened after that incident." he stressed certain words to make his point, and it no one needed a clearer descripton to what night Jack was referring to.

"But that's impossible, for that to happen you'd have to be-" Ratchet abruptly stopped himself.

"I'd have to be what?" Jack demanded. He knew it wasn't fair to demand an answer. After all, he had his own secrets, but that was out of courtesy to his mother. She had told him everything, and it wouldn't be fair if he coudn't tell her everything.

When had his life gotten so complicated?

"I have some research to do, you should take the boy home, Arcee." Ratchet said ignoring Jack's question completely.

Jack made an attempt to repeat the question again, but the look Arcee gave him silenced his attempt. Right, no need to push his luck. "I need to get home anyway. My mom's not gonna be very happy if I'm late again."

Still, the 'what' remained on his mind all through the ride home.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Cutting it close, aren't you, Jack?"

Jack froze as he looked up to the garage door way to see his mom. "Um, I made it. That's what matters, right?"

June's features softened. "I just want to make sure you're safe." her eyes suddenly lit up. "And I think now's the ideal time to give this to you."

"Give me what?" Jack asked curiously.

"Come one, I'll show you." June gestured for her son to follow and led him to the attic. She looked around for a lightswitch and then went to retrieve a wide retangular box. "You're father told me to give this to you should you awaken your inner demon."

''Should' being the operative word.' she silently thought.

Jack accepted the box and placed it on the floor. He got on his knees and opened it to reveal...

"A bow?" he questioned incredulously and lifted out of the box a blue bow with white markings on winding on it.

"Yes. A bow." June confirmed. "It's special in the way it can transform into a sword."

Jack's eyes widened with interest as he looked over the bow in a new light. "Really? How?"

"Vergil told me the way to change it was to call out it's name; Fubuki, and say, transform for it to turn into a sword." June said, half surprising Jack by her calling his father by his name.

It was one of the few times she actually said it at all.

"Fubuki?" Jack repeated, blinking at the foreign name.

June nodded. "It means 'blizzard.' Very appropriate from what he told me what it was suppose to do."

"What's it do?" Jack asked curiously.

June smiled a little sadly. "It freezes anything it hits. Shooting magically appearing arrows by pulling back the string on the bow. And by stabbing through something in it's sword form."

"Wow." Jack was completely awed. "This is pretty powerful then." his eyes were drawn back to the box and the two pieces of paper in it. "Hey, what are these?"

June walked behind him and once she the papers she made an annoyed sound. "So this is where he hid them on me. Smart move." she admmited grudgingly.

These...these were his birth certificate and his parent's marriage certificate. "'Jackson Dante Darby-Sparda' wait, if that's my other last name, then why don't any other documents have that for me or you?"

"Safety precautions." June said grimly. "There are a lot of demons out there that hate the name Sparda and would jump at the chance to kill one. Esspecially if that someone is an inexperienced teenager. That, and your uncle probably only added more fuel to the fire with that job of his."

Jack nodded with the same grimness June had. "So everything you've done; the ridiculous curfew, the secrets, that was to protect me?" he felt truly touched that his mother wold do so much for him.

"Of course. And I'm not letting you leave this house unless you promise to always take that weapon with you." she said sternly.

Jack smiled and placed a hand over his heart. "I promise."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This place again." Jack mutterd as he appeared in the soul plane, only this time he wasn't in trigger form.

He walked down the street and caught sight of a 'music store.' He shrugged. 'What the hell.' he thought and went into the 'store.'

Jack went over to th displays ad realized that these were all songs that he liked and other songs that he didn't recognize in Cybertronian and how did he know what it sad? "I can just blame Red for this." he muttered and picked up a 'Muse' album. He put the CD in the player and put on a pair of headphones.

"Who cares for the life we've earned?  
Someone's sold all the truth you've yearned,  
Remember when we used to shine  
And had no fear or sense of time  
When it creeps up on you..."

Almost unconciously, Jack started to sing along.

"You can't cry now there's nothing to feel  
No one's noticed our loneliness  
Remember when you used to tease  
And made us scream eternal joy..."

A new voice suddenly cut in and Jack almost choked on the air.

"I believed that you'll always be here  
'Cause once you promised a life with no fear  
Please don't break my ideals  
And say what's fake was always real..."

Head phones forgottten, Jack looked over at the door to see a red 'con smirking widely at him. "You! We had a deal!"

"Yeah, that's, the thing about us Decepticons, we lie." Knock Out said it in a way which made Jack feel incredibly stupid. "Now, I believe you have some explaining to do, sparkmate." he twisted the word up like a curse.

"Sparkmate? What's that?" Jack asked confused.

"Apparently when I tried to kill you, something happened to give us this connection in the first place." Knock Out said and saw that the confusion on Jack's face hadn't went away. He let out a melodramatic sigh and rolled his opitcs. "We spark-bonded. In your earth terms it means 'married,' though our 'souls as you could call them are fused together. Thatclear enough for you?" he asked sarcastically.

Jack's confusion twisted up into shock, anger and disgust. He couldn't believe it, he was married essentially to Knock Out. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice just how close the Decpetion had gotten to him until he felt two hands gripping his upper arms. He jerked his head up and stared directly into a pair of red opitcs. "What are you doing?"

"Like I already said; I want some answers, and this is just the best way to get it." Knock Out explained rather plainly, and then swiftly, and none-to-gently, pulled Jack directly against his chest plate. More specifically, his heart and spark being in direct alignment; this causing the strange light tendrils from before to reappear.

Jack felt a strange sensation. Pin pricks of pleasure shooting thorugh his body, this feeling much more intenes than the last time where he had only felt cold. "W-what is this?" he asked as a pleasant haze began clouding his vision.

Knock Out didn't answer as he had his optics shut in absolute concentration as he foused on finding the information he wanted and not letting himself sucumb to the same pleasure Jack was feeling. As he dug deeper into their mockery of a bond, he was met with no reisistence except for some strange other prescence.

Thoug as soon as he saw the memory of June explaining to Jack about what he was did Knock Out know exactly what that prescence was.

And upon getting what he wanted, the red 'Con pulled Jack away with a very complacent look on his faceplate. "I know what you are, half-breed."

The cloudy look in Jack's eyes suddenly vanished and fear was now in them. "You-you saw?" he asked breatlessly.

He didn't know what was worse; that experience actually being good or Knock Out knowing what he was.

"I hate you so much." Jack said as he glared at the smirking 'Con and pushed him away.

"Believe me, the feeling's mutual." A sly grin. " Though you seemed to have enjoyed yourself from what I can tell."

Jack snarled and wished he knew how to activate his trigger form. Unfortunetly though, all he could do as a retort was walk away.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack, are you okay?" Arcee asked as she saw Jack walk into the garage with an oddly blank look on his face.

Jack stared at Arcee for a long moment. "You knew, didn't you?" he asked in a detached tone.

"Knew what?" Arcee asked.

"Knew that the connection I had with Re-Knock Out was a spark-bond." Jack said, his voice starting to take on a cold edge.

Arcee was rendered momentarily speechless. "How did you find that out?"

"Knock Out told me last night." Jack answered, his voice colder than ice now. "It's Saturday, you can go to the base using your hologram, I need some time to myself." he said turning around.

"Jack, you need to understand that..." Arcee called, but Jack held up his hand, not bothering to turn around.

"Save it, Arcee. This is something I have to think about on my own since none of you bothered to tell me that I'm apparently married to a 'Con now." he spat, his voice sounding more betrayed and hurt than angry. "I'm really trying not to lose my temper, so please don't follow me until I can calm down." his voice just sounded dead now.

It was either get angry or bottle it up. And Jack didn't wanna go insane again. Soul plane or real life.

He closed the door behind him walked over to the guitar case for his bow; his mother having gotten the idea from his uncle to carry his bow around in it. Along with several spare shirts too. He shouldered the strap and headed for the front door. "Going for a walk, mom. And don't worry, got my 'guitar' with me."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During his walk, Jack had time to get his temper reigned in, or at least some of it. On the one hand, he was still pissed that 'Bots hadn't told him something so vitally important to him.

On the other hand, why should he expect them to tell him anything when he's keeping secrets of his own?

One of which Knock Out already knew now. He's slightly glad though that the 'Con only wanted answers and didn't go digging around for the location of the Autobot base.

Jack suddenly stopped as a weird and unpleasant smell came to his nose. He remembered his mom telling him that he could apparently smell when other demons were around.

So being cautious, Jack furtively looked around. The area was isolated, secluded and devoid of any people. It eerily reminded him of his soulplane, but pushed that thought aside. The last thing he wanted was for Red to suddenly appear.

Jack used his new found sense of smell to try and locate where it was coming from, but the scent was all...around him.

Shit. He was surrounded.

"Listen, whatever you are, I'm not afraid of you." he really hoped the bravado he was putting up was working.

The only answer he recieved was a low growling and he saw the ugliest creatures he'd ever seen. They were monstrous, wore what looked like burlap sacks, and their hands were sickles.

'No way am I getting near those things.' he thought and quickly got his bow out, the case dropping to the ground.

'You have to.'

Jack nearly faltered, but recognized the voice as his 'own.' 'So nice of your to talk to me.' he thought sarcastically.

'Shut up, I'm trying to help you so you don't do anything stupid and get us killed.' his inner demon snapped. You can't use the bow because there's not enough space-so you have to use the sword form. Just avoid the sickles and you'll be fine.'

'Should?' Jack repeated, but there was no reply. "Fubuki: transform." he muttered and the bow changed into a katana with a blue handle and a gleaming white blade with icy blue spiderweb cracks running along it.

As if taking this as an invitation, the Scarecrows all charged at him. Jack immediaterly took to the defensive, blocking or dodging the slashes they took at him. He knew he couldn't keep being on the defensive forever. Either someone would hear or-

"Ahh!" Yeah, he'd get cut. "Frag." he cursed as he felt his back sting and his fingers came back bloody from the slash the Scrarecrow had given him. His eyes began to take on a red tint, all the careful control on his anger slipping. Now he didn't care about not getting angry anymore.

"You want a piece of me? Bring it!" he snarled and began to charge at the nearest one.

All he cared about now was getting rid of these ugly bastards as fast as possible.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Arcee, where's Jack?" Miko asked as Arcee walked into the control room without the black-haired teen.

"He's by himself." Arcee said carefully. "He said he wanted some time to himself to cool down."

"Do you know why he needed to cool off?" Raf asked.

"Jack accused me of keeping something from him." Arcee said meaningfully.

The Prime's optics gained an understanding look in them. "It seems our young friend found out about his bond."

"Bond? What bond?" Raf asked confused.

Fortunately(or unfortunately depending on perspective) a sudden beeping came from the computer. Ratchet didn't even look surprised as he checked the signal. "Sudden Decepticon signal with much interference accompanying it. I think we all know who this is."

"Jack." Was the unified response.

Arcee rolled her optics. "He tells me he's not going to get angry and he does it anyway." she said sarcastically. "Hey Ratchet, is it possible to bring up a visual to what's got him so riled up?"

"Luckily, it is possible." Ratchet replied smartly, though the image that was brought up was something no one was expecting. "What in Primus' name are those things?"

"Those...those look like, well, they just look really gross." Miko said observing the things Jack was fighting.

"Jack's hurt." Raf said in concern for his friend as he saw the long bloody stain on the back of Jack's shirt.

For Arcee it felt like her spark was about to burst out of her chest. It was too painfully familiar. 'This is how Cliff went, wasn't it? Outnumbered and over powered?' What was she thinking? Threre was no way she was about to lose someone else. "Ratchet, open a ground bridge to his location, he needs help!"

Almost surprised by her out burst, Ratchet was only caught a little off guard. "Hold on a klik." he said grumpily and locked onto the co-ordinates, the ground bridge appearing. "There-"

He barely said the word before Arcee shot off like a blue blur through the ground bridge. She arrived at the location to see that Jack had gotten the hang of fighting off the demons, if the frozen and smashed ice statues were any indication.

"Jack!" she yelled and blasted the Scarecrow that was behind him.

"Arcee? What are you doing here?" Jack sounded panicked and very angry.

Arcee was taken back by this hostile response. "I'm saving you of course! This is the thanks I get for trying to be your guardian?"

Jack dodged another strike aimed at him as his attention was focusec entirely on the fight. "I don't need saving! I have...this under control!" he yelled as he stabbed another Scarecrow, the demon freezing from the inside out as the sword was pulled out of it's chest and shattering.

Jack had found that while slicing the limbs off caused that area to freeze over, that stabbing them through the chest caused them to freeze entirely and shatter like glass. Maybe it was like that cause that's where there heart was? Whatever though, he was now only down to 7 Scarecrows, the one Arcee blasted included.

Speaking of Arcee, the femme proved to be just as headstrong as Jack since she refused to leave and let the teen be killed. Though each time she shto a Scarecrow down, not once did any of them deter and attack her. Their attention was focused solely on Jack.

The teen took a deep calming breath as he stabbed the last Scarecrow through the chest and the stinging on his back was almost gone. He looked around to make sure all the Scrarecrows were dead or shattered on the ground in a million pieces before looking up at Arcee. "Guess I owe you an explanation, don't I?" he spat, the anger he tried to reign in coming back.

"An explanation can wait until you get that wound cleaned." Arcee said sternly.

Jack nodded absently as he put the sword back into the guitar case and placed it over his shoulder to cover the blood. "You should probably get back to the base, I'll be-"

"Not a chance."

Damn. Jack sighed, now that his anger was all but gone, he was just too exhausted to argue. "Alright, lets go." he concededed and Arcee transformed into bike-mode.

This also gave him a chance to ask something that had been on his mind for a bit.

"So, what do you know about spark-bonds? Whoa!" Jack had to hold tightly on the handle bars as the femme swerved.

Arcee had expected to hear that question, but it still caught her off guard to hear it. "I don't know that much about them, all I know is that-"

"Your souls are fused together." Jack finished almost mechanically.

Arcee was rendered speechless for a moment. "How did you know that?"

"When Re-Knock Out told me about the bond, that's how he described it." Jack explained.

"Well, you could ask Ratchet about bonds, he is a medic after all." Arcee suggested.

The 'but so is Knock Out' Jack was about to say got caught in his throat and wisely kept it to himself. He didn't know how he knew that Red was a medic, so he added it to his mental list of things he could blame him for.

And that list was a steadily growing one.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack winced only a little bit as his mother cleaned the blood away and cleaned up the wound. "Does it look as bad as it feels?"

"Thankfully, it's not that deep and your accelerated healing took care of most of the damage. It should be completely healed by morning tommorow or by tonight if you're lucky." June explained as she placed a gauze over the wound.

A suddenly chiling thought came up in Jack's mind. "Is this why you became a nurse? So you could treat any cuts I get without having to take me to the hospital?"

June diddn't answer at first. "Not really. I was already interrested in medicine when I...met your father."

"That's another thing, I saw a video of you on youtube singing." Jack said as he was once again forced to disgard his shirt. He really had to do something about his shirt problem.

"Really?" June sounded surprised. "Yeah, I used to sing. Your father actually encouraged me to do it and would post it on the internet." her tone implied that there was a blush on her face. "It was through one of my performances that I expressed my feelings for him. Since, calling him...cold, is putting it mildly."

Jack turned around at that. "Did it work?"

June's face scrunched up. "It worked alright. Only he thought I was singing about someone else." she sounded vaguely exasperated. "He got so jealous that I almost went into shock from seeing him act so out of character." she giggled and Jack felt weirded out to see his mother act so 'girly.' "So I kissed him and told him it was him I was singing about."

Jack grimaced at the 'kiss' bit and tried not to think about it. "So when did dad...disappear?" It felt more appropriate to use that word than 'leave.'

"When you were one. It was after that incident that I offically met your uncle actually." June replied.

Jack sat down and listened more intently. "Really?"

"Yes. I was shocked to meet someone who looked exactly like your dad, but act so completely different. I mean, I knew he had a brother, but he never said he was a twin. Your uncle seemed shocked to not only learn that his brother had a kid, but a human wife, he stressed the human part for some reason, and sounded quite amused by it." she shrugged. "Though I didn't know him well enough to ask why he thought that."

"So I take it that dad wasn't all that nice of a person?" Jack asked tentatively.

June sighed. "No, he wasn't. He didn't even like me when we first met. It took me a whole month to get him to stop calling me 'girl' or 'human.'" she muttered. "But never doubt that he did care about us."

"Don't worry, I won't." Jack murmured as he thought about what his mother told him.


	6. Chapter 6

"Now, about that explanation..." Arcee started as Jack came into the garage.

"I haven't forgotten." Jack retorted and sat down on the steps of the doorway. "Listen though, you have to promise me you won't say anything to Miko and Raf, I have to tell them myself. Okay?"

"Alright." Arcee replied. "But I believe it would be more pertinent if I put on my speakers so the other Autobots may ask their questions withoutn having to relay anything."

Jack sighed and thought it over. If the other 'Bots saw the demons, and his sword, then it would be more beneficial if he just got it over with in one scoop. "Sure. Go ahead."

Arcee contacted the base and informed them of the situation. So putting on the speakers, she asked the most obvious question. "What are you?"

Jack smirked bitterly at her blunt tone. "Please hold any objections to yourself as it would be insulting to my very existence." he took a deep breath and said in the most apathetic tone he could muster, "I'm a demon, to put it simply. Well, half-demon actually..."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is it, Sounwave?" Starscream asked annoyed from his spot on the bridge.

The silent mech only showed any reply by opening up the active channel between the Autobots that he'd hacked. :Arcee to base. Come in, base.:

:Arcee, this is Optimus. How is Jack?:

:He's...okay. Still looks put out though.:

"Soundwave, why would I want to hear a conversation about a fleshbag?" Starscream growled before another thought dawned on him. "Is this...live?" The silent mech merely nodded.

:That is understandable. It was unfair of us to hide such vital information from him.: Prime replied.

:Good news though. Jack's agreed to tell us all about the creatures we saw. He said it was acceptable to put it on speaker so we could all converse.: Arcee said.

:Affirmative.: Prime replied.

There was a long pause before Arcee spoke. "What are you?"

"Please hold any objections to yourself as it would be insulting to my very existence." There was a pause from the fleshy. "I'm a demon, to put it simply. Well, half-demon actually..."

There was absolute silence from the feed and on the bridge as even the Vehicon drones stopped working and turned to listen.

"What are you all looking at? Back to work!" Starscream snarled and the Vehicons went back to work.

"You see, my dad was also a half-breed, but my mom's human." The fleshy continued. "That sword was a gift he left for me."

"Wait, you had a father?" Arcee questioned.

The hu-organic made an annoyed sound. "Of course I have a father. He's not dead...just gone. Either way, he can't come back from I know."

"Speaking of dead," The medic interjected, "Why did my scans register that you lied when you said you didn't die?"

"Well, that's cause I did die. I had too." The orgnic stated. "Though thanks to my demon blood and acceerated healing ability that I got from my dad, I won't be dying for a very long time." There was a significant pause. "Ratchet, about this bond I have, is it possible for him to have my ability too? Like how I'm suddenly able to understand Cybertronian?"

Starscream looked slightly interested. "Bond?" he repeated.

"A bond like yours is unheard of as you have no spark to fuse too, but with regular bond, it is possible for knowlege and any special abiltities to be transfered through it to better ensure both recipients survival." The medic explained.

"Does the bond still work that way even if the bond is unwanted?" The organic questioned with a strange tone in his voice.

"Yes." The medic replied bluntly.

"That still doesn't explain why Jack keeps showing up as a 'Con." The youngling beeped.

"Well, he had to show up as something, I assume." The medic replied gruffly. "And it is not so ironic seeing as from I have read over from the Internet, that demons are inherently evil. Very 'Con-like if you ask me."

"Are you calling me evil?" The organic hissed. "Look, I know my dad wasn't the nicest of people from what my mom told me and that he tried to raise the Demon World, thus damning humanity, but I'm not like that!"

"You're father tried to do what?" Arcee asked sharply.

"Why does that sound familiar?" The youngling beeped sarcastically. "Oh yeah, just replace 'Demon World' with 'the undead' and you'd have what Megatron tried to do."

"Anyway." The organic said in a dark voice, "Is there a way to get rid of this bond?"

"Not without therebeing a chance of the backlash killing both you and Knock Out." The medic countered.

"Cut the feed, I've heard enough." Starscream ordered and marched off to the sick bay. He paid no attention to Breakdown but paused when he saw the husk of their 'leader' and tried to imagine a demon that could be just as ruthless as him, but brushed the thought away. He saw their medic look up with that insufferable smirk of his on his faceplate. "Did you really think you could keep the half-breed a secret from me?" he questioned slyly.

The smirk was wiped clean off Knock Out's faceplate and a small flash of panic flared in his optics before he qucikly covered it up. "I'm not sure I understand what you're saying." he lied smoothly. "I cetainly don't know about any half-breed of anything."

Starscream narrowed his optics and remembered a certain bit of information. 'Accelerated healing hmm? Lets see if it works.' he thought and without warning, he slashed his claws across Knock Out's faceplate.

The medic hissed and put a hand over the gashes. "You!-" he broke of and growled. What was that for? This is going to take me at leashed a joor to fix!"

"Actually, I think a few kliks is all it really needs." Starscream sneered snidely. "Now move your hand." he ordered. The hand didn't move an inch. "I said: Move. Your. Hand. Now.!"

Knock Out glared at him as he moved his hand away to show the slowly, but surely, healing scratches. "Happy now?" he spat sarcastically.

Starscream looked smug. "Very." Then he scowled. "Now I'll ask again: did you really think you could keep the half-breed a secret from me?" he hissed.

"It was worth a shot." The medic replied flippantly.

Off at the side, Breakdown looked horribly confused. "What is he talking about, Knock Out?"

"Why," Starscream started off dramatically, "I'm talking about how the good doctor here failed to inform us that he was bonded to an organic."

"I didn't think that was possible." Breakdown muttered.

"It shouldn't be," Knock Out returned, "but this fleshy isn't exactly human. I found this out when I looked through his memories."

"And did you also find the Autobot base's location from these memories?" Starscream questioned.

"Uh, about that," The medic started and suddenly became very aware that he was scratching the back of his helm. 'Damn-slagging organic.' he thought sullenly, "no, but I will nect time."

"See that you do."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack frowned as he and Arcee arrived at the Autobot base, the part about 'backlash' still on his mind. He told his mom that hew was going out to hang with his friends. June had reluctantly agreed and and give a customary 'Be careful' mantra.

He shifted the guitar case to fit more comfortably on his shoulder and heard two voices shout, "Jack!" before he was nearly knocked off balance by two pairs of arms locking around him. Jack winced from the gauze more than his stil healing wound, but Miko and Raf mistook this for pain and moved back.

"Sorry Jack." Raf said apologetically.

Jack waved it off. "That's okay."

Miko stared at the guitar case. "Is that where you keep that cool-looking sword?" she asked with some excitement.

"It's not a sword right now." Jack answered plainly. He placed the case on the ground and opened it to reveal his blue bow. "This is it's 'original' for you could say."

"Jack, why do you have clothes in there?" Arcee questioned upon seeing the shirts tucked away inside the case.

"Huh? Oh, it's just incase another one gets shredded." Jack answered. He saw the concerned looks his friends were giving him and sighed inwardly. He did say he was going to tell them about himself, and he was also sure they'd seen the demons too if they were asking about his weapon.

"Look, there's something I gotta tell you." he said slowly.

"Like what those gross thing you were fighting were?" Miko asked.

Jack paused. "Uh, yeah, that's exactly why." he took a reassuring breath. "Look, I'm not exactly...human."

"Not exactly human? What does that mean?" Raf asked confused.

"Just what I said." Jack replied in a resigned tone. "I'm a half-breed demon. Before, I was just partly, but then my demon blood woke up and now I'm half..." he went on to explain everything he'd told the 'Bots, though leaving out the bit he'd said about his dad. He also pointedly left out the part where he had a bond with Knock Out.

That was something he was going to put off for a while.

One bombshell at a time after all.


	7. Chapter 7

"That...is the most incredible thing I've never heard." Miko said after a long silence.

Jack looked at her with a slightly hopeful expression. "So you both believe me?" They nodded. "And you don't think I'm a freak? A monster?" he asked much more quietly.

"Jack, your our friend." Raf said reassuringly. "Though it is unsettling to know that demons actually do exist."

Miko shrugged. "Hey, it alien robots exist," she jerked her thumb at the still present femnme, "then why not demons? Besides, in Japan, demons can range from being plain evil to just plain tricky." she seemed to think the matter was settled as she got up and gave them both a pointed look. "Now, we still have practice." Both boys groaned. "I think I saw Raf's laptop in the control room."

Jack rolled his eyes as they walked off, Arcee following, but couldn't help but feel as though a great weight was lifted off his shoulders. Telling his friends had been a big deal for him because he didn't have any other friends other than them and the 'Bots. He would've been very hurt if they had just laughed it off and called it a 'Great Story.'

Almost subconciously, he looked up at Arcee. When she had showed up to see him fighting the Scarecrows, he had been terrified to know what she thought of him.

He had tried to deny the fact that he was starting to see her as something more than a guardian, like when he thought she was just a normal motorcycle. Things were complicated enough without getting her mixed up in it. 'Sides, there were three other factors he had to forcibly consider.

He had no idea if she felt the same.

Another was Red. He didn't know if he cared or not(most likely not though), but he wasn't going to out a bigger target on his guardian's back if Knock Out turned out to be the jealous type.

Then there was the bond. While he certainly didn't want it, and while he certainly didn't like Knock Out, he didn't wanna die either.

So until he could find a safe way to cut the bond, he had to keep his feelings to himself.

"Hey, Jack! Earth to Jack!" Miko yelled annoyed.

Jack tried not to flinch as he found himself standing beside the couch. It was strange and disturbing that he could have walked up the stairs completely unaware of what he was doing. Maybe his inner demon had more control than he thought. "Yeah?"

Miko pointed at the screen of Raf's computer. "New song's starting."

Jack nearly groaned as he saw that on the screen was an image of his younger-looking mother, though there was a meloncholic look in her eyes. If Jack had to guess, this probably happened after his father disappeared.

"Deep in my soul,  
Love so strong,  
It takes control,

Now we know,  
The secrets bared,  
The feelings show..."

"What's that sound?" Bumblebee asked curiously.

"It's a video of my mom. She was a hit on Youtube apparently." Jack answered, not even surprised at the looks, he felt rather proud of his mom.

"Driven far apart,  
I'll make a wish,  
On a shooting star,

There will come a day,  
Somewhere far away,  
In your arms I'll stay,  
My only love,

Even though your gone,  
Love will still live on,  
This feeling is so strong,  
My only love..."

"This reminds me of Rosanna." Bulkhead commented.

"Who's that?" Miko asked curiously.

"Uh, femme Autobot singer." Bulkhead replied. "Big hit on Cybertron."

Jack stared at the screen as his thoughts wandered. 'I knew my mom loved dad, but I never knew she loved him this much. If only there was a way to get him back here.'

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I really need to get a new job." Jack griped as he helped his mom clean the dishes. He let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "Maybe I should go into demon hunting like uncle Dante."

June grimaced. "Um, why don't you look for other career choices first? Like how I went into medicine."

"Hmm." Jack hummed thoughtfully. "I'd be able to treat my own wounds if I did when the demons show up to try and kill me."

"I was so careful." June murmured. "But I knew this was going to happen eventually."

"Hey, it's not your fault." Jack said sincerely. "This is just happening because my demon blood woke up, right? What are the chances that anyone even knew I was a Sparda?"

June paused for a moment before relaxing. Only slightly though. "Not great, I'll admit. And despite what an obnoxious braggart Dante can be, I know he'd never say anything to intentionally give you away."

"You make it sound like he'd do it by accident though." Jack said.

June looked at him flatly. "It's Dante." she said it like it should explain everything.

And maybe it did. After all, he had never met his uncle(and if he did, he was too young to remember), but his mon had.

"Why is my middle name Dante then?" Jack questioned.

"Well, I got to give you your first name, but your father gave you your uncle's name because he thought giving you his name would be a little to cliche." June explained. "That's what he told me anyways."

"Heh." Was Jack's only reply. He suddenly paused as he sniffed the air. "I smell something." he said and reached for the guitar case on the chair. He took the bow and, spoke the incantantion to change it into a sword and followed the smell to the backyard. He stared suspiciously in the darkened area, the only light coming from the porch light he was standing under.

In the more darkened area, he saw a floating being covered in a cloak. Jack frowned as it raised a hand, but his eyes widened and he barely dodged as something shot out at him.

"Whoa!" he grunted as he saw that the long thing objects that would have skewered him were fingers. Still, Jack wasn't going to wait and let it kill him. He raised his katana an cut down, the tip of the fingers freezing over as it was chopped off. "That's what you get for trying to mess with me!"

Regardless though, the Mephisto continued to try and stab him at a distance and Jack kept hacking away at the sharp fingers He hoped the ice would grow to heavy and for it to hold up and then he could charge at it to freeze it completely.

'Or,' his inner demon hissed scathingly, 'you could shoot it with your bow.'

Jack wanted to smack himself, but went through with his demon's instructions. "Fubuki: transform." he felt the unfamiliar light weight of the bow(compared to the sword anyway) throw him off balance momentarily. He pulled the string back and a clear, ice blue arrow appearered, then he fired. The arrow went through the left shoulder and froze it.

'That was good, though next time, aim for the right.' his demon hissed again.

'Alright, alright, bossy.' Jack thought and fired again. This time luck seemed to be on his side as the arrow went right into the Mephisto's chest, causing it to freeze over completely before shattering. "Alright!" he shouted triumphantly.

"Jack?" Came his mother's voice as she peered out of the back door. "Are you alright? It didn't hurt you, did it?"

"No." Jack answered. "I learned my lesson about letting any demons get a cut on me." he was about to step closer to her when he felt the ground under his feet shake and the dirt crumbled and gave way. "Ahhh!" he cried as he fell down through an abyss. The cavern walls looked fleshy instead of being made of dirt.

The last thing he heard was his mother's echoing cry, then...nothing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No, Jack!" June cried as she fell to her knees and stared at the hole in the ground. Her son had just been taken before her very eyes. Was he de-no, she couldn't thingk like that. Was he just gone like Vergil? Questionable alive but unreachable?

Maybe.

She didn't know about any underground demons because Vergil had deemed it 'unnecessary' for her to know. Unnecessary her ass! If he ever got out of hell, she was kicking his ass back there.

Still, all indignation aside, she felt sick to her stomach and let out a small shuddering sigh. She felt like she had failed her role as a mother. Like the past 16 years had been defined by this very moment.

Jack had no idea how scared she'd get whenever he'd come home past curfew with a lame excuse. Then the night he asked about what she was keeping from him made her realize that he needed to know what was out there. And while she perferred to keep that part from him, he'd find out anyway.

She knew he'd have eventually found that sword. Better to let him know now instead of later on and having him resent her for it.

The night he died though nearly broke her heart. She couldn't weep because she had to clean up his chest wound. Then again, with that cut on his back from an actual demon attack. Had they found out about him? Did they smell him? Had it been completely random?

She was personally hoping it had been the last choice.

June took her self out of her pity party with a sense of self-depracation. Why was she just sitting here doing nothing? She may not have a broad knowledge of demons, she knew someone who did.

A someone she hadn't seen or talked to in 13 years as he had helped her out wth raising Jack while she finished her medical degree.

'Please still have the same number.' she silently prayed as she dialed the number. 'Pick up, pick up, pick u-'

"Password?"

Pas-for crying out loud! She didn't have time for this. "It's me, it's," she couldn't believe she was about to call herself this, esspecially consider how much she had scolded him for calling her it, "Junebug!"

"Junebug? This can't be her as she told me she hoped to never see me again even though I helped raise her kid." A male voice said dramatically. The tone then became more 'normal.' "Whatcha callin' 'bout, Junebug? And how's Jackie?"

June sighed. "That's why I'm calling you after all this time; I need your help. It's about Jack. He's...gone."

"You mean he's dead?" There was an unusual grimness in the male's voice.

"No, he not dead!" June snapped. "'Gone' doesn't equal 'dead,' Dante!"

There was a rather bitter laugh on the other end of the line. "You said that exact same line when you shot me down after I asked you out. Only that time you'd been refering to Verge."

June sighed again. "Please, Dante. I really need your help. You can help me all you want, but do this for Jack at least."

"Hate you?" There was a fair amount of disbelief in Dante's voice. "I don't hate you. I'm just pissed that it took for this to happen to get you to call me." he sounded almost hurt at that point.

June bit her lip. "Sorry about that, but about the help?"

"Oh, alright. Now, what exactly happened to Jackie?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack groaned as he he felt sand moving under his hands and his hair.

Wait...sand?

He opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a very red 'sky' He looked down at his right hand, which was still clutching the bow, and stared at the red sand. He frowned as he sat up and shook it out of his hair.

He got to his feet and took in his surroundings. It was sandy as far as the eye could see. It was also hot.

Really hot. Hot as...yeah, that.

Jack wiped his brow and started to drudge through the desert and his inner demon stiring.

Yeah, his demon would want to come out in this place. He knew where he was, strangely enough. It was also rather disturbing.

Still, for the life of him, as he felt the sand shift beneath his shoes, he couldn't figure out how he had ended up in the Demon World.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: I have decided to break this up into a story arc as Jack travels through the demon world to get home. I can say this arc will end in time for Jack to make his appearance for the episode "Predatory." Now, I'm going to stopt talking before I give too much away.

**Author's Note:**

> Probably should clear a few things up.
> 
> 1: As said in the top A/N, Jack's involvement was tweeked to fit into the story plot.
> 
> 2: Why did Knock Out toss Jack? Simple, he already had a hostage and didn't see the point of having another one. Plus it was payback for Jack scratching up his finish. So the gash he gave Jack was intentional, just not the part where a piece of him broke off and got lodged in Jack's chest.
> 
> 3: Jack's trigger form. June's theory about the metal changing the trigger form was right, but exactly what it did will be revealed later on


End file.
